if you were me and had an existing i7-950, would you have upgraded to the new i7-4770k? only reason I said the K version is because newegg had a combo deal for it with a Z87 motherboard for $100 off. I know my i7 is 5 generations old now which was followed by i7-8xx, Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge-E, Ivy Bridge, and now Haswell but am I really going to see a difference other than much faster boot up time, going from 12 Gb of ram to 16 Gb, and a more energy efficient PC?

It's a lot better. And that is a grat deal. For me, though, the question is do you have a need to upgrade? My Q6600 is still enough for school and TF2. But, If you have a reason, it would be a good jump.

Sure, the new CPU is a lot faster, but how long ago was it that you really had to wait for the CPU to finish its job?

Are you encoding videos all the time? Are you (de)compressing archives all the time? Are you performing rendering tasks that take too long? Is GPU usage dropping in games? If not,then why bother upgrading the CPU?

am I really going to see a difference other than much faster boot up time, going from 12 Gb of ram to 16 Gb, and a more energy efficient PC?

Bootup time will not change in a perceptible way. To me, booting Windows 7 from an SSD starting using a 2000MHz or 3600MHz Phenom II feels the same. Try lowering your CPU multiplier a lot to see what kind of difference it makes.

I recently upgraded from an i5-750 Lynnfield to an i7 3820 SB-E and it felt like a pretty huge jump in windows responsiveness and overall smoothness in games. I'd expect you'd see a similar jump coming from Bloomfield to Haswell.

Prestige Worldwide wrote:I recently upgraded from an i5-750 Lynnfield to an i7 3820 SB-E and it felt like a pretty huge jump in windows responsiveness and overall smoothness in games. I'd expect you'd see a similar jump coming from Bloomfield to Haswell.

If you have the money, DO IT

Well, you've got GTX670SLI, he's got a 6870. Your setup requires quite a bit more CPU power to get high GPU usage of course.

@OP: why not downclock/overclock your CPU by like 25% and see if it feels different? Better yet, let someone else pick a frequency (don't forget the IMC!) in the [0.75, 1.25] or so range and guess what frequency it's running at without consulting CPU-Z or anything.

Prestige Worldwide wrote:I recently upgraded from an i5-750 Lynnfield to an i7 3820 SB-E and it felt like a pretty huge jump in windows responsiveness

Did you move from HDD to a SSD?

Windows has been rather lightweight on CPUs for a while now (ignoring Atom). Fast storage is the key to improved responsiveness in Windows. My i7-920 rig is as responsive as my 3770K rig (both have fast SSDs booting Windows 8 ).

As the OP has lots of memory all they have to do is switch over to a boot SSD to improve "windows responsiveness".

Last edited by End User on Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

OK what is that machine used for most? Heavily multi threaded stuff where 6 core will help you out just as much as the 4770Ks fast single cores. Is it basically a gaming machine? or iis it a little of both at the same time ETC.

If you need 6 cores I found a i7-970 for $353.00 from Starmicron I have dealt with them in the past 3 times and they have quick delivery. Seems to be the best place to get older CPUs at pretty good prices. Here is the link http://starmicroinc.net/intel-core-32gh ... -1482.htmlA 130 watt 6 core 32nm chip with a 3.2ghz base with a 3.46 turbo plus you can overclock it to 4.0 to 4.6ghz Your mileage will vary:) Those 970s where released at $595 if i recall correctly. Also you will need a good cooler if you want to get over 4.1 ghz if the chip has it in it. At 4.1 ghz with the big intel tower cooler it hit over 85c in the review i read.

Its up to you If you want 6 slower cores for 385$ That can be overclocked mind you " to what level thats a big ?? bur 4.0 ghz should be possible" A 6 stock 3.2ghz core i7 970 scores CINEBENCH at around 8.0 points. At 4600mhz it scores 11.33 points. A stock 3.5ghz 3770k is 7.6points , 3.5ghz 4770k 8.15 points. But my overclocked 2600k will hit over 9 points depending on how high my overclock is. But since I have had it for over 2 years I do not have any reason to run 1.5 volts to get 5.1ghz at this point. "Unless a 240mm AIO cooling system somehow gets added to it" I am running a single 120mm push pull Asetek h50 style AIO water cooler on it now and with my right now 30 degree ambient temps in my hot computer room "summer" @4.6ghz @1.368volts Idle my hottest core is core #1 37c coolest is core #0 at 34c, running prime 95 for 5 minutes my hottest core always core #1 is at 70-71c with my coolest core #0 is at 66-67cThe only reason i added my 2600k overclock score is because the 3770k and 4770k overclock well also.....But run SO SO much hotter unless you go into delidding to replace the tim between the IHS and CPU die but thats a conversation for another time.

So the choice is all yours, for $385 bucks just to drop in a CPU for 2 more cores and a possible good overclock to make up for the single core performance. Or keep your rig and build a new up to date one for a lot more then $385 Also to need the extra performance to get the most out of you 670 sli setup will only matter when you are running at a low resolution or no AA or AF and going for sheer framerate plus a slight OC and 2 extra cores will help out If you are running NV surround with 3 monitors the CPU will not bottleneck 2 670s. But to be honest If you do have the money for it the 4770k cannot be beat for gaming with just a SLI setup. Now if you where running Tri or Quad SLI i would say go for sandy bridge -E or wait for Ivy bridge-E. Also with PCI-e 3.0 remember you get double the bandwidth of 2.0 Since no video card can really saturate a 2.0 x8 slot. You can get some new killer 1150 mother boards like the MSI z87-g65 or sat a ASrock Z87Formula board that will run tri SLI great since it will split up the top card to 8x and the 2nd and 3rd slot to 4x pci-e 3.0 using all the lanes from the CPU and not from any added PLX chip that adds latency. 4x at pci-e 3.0 equates to a 8x pci-e 2.0 slot. I really like the Asrock Formula boards they are well made top end boards that are a good bit cheaper then the other big name boards. They sorta fill the spot left by DFI motherboards since they went under or got bought out i forget which.

JAE great find on that ASrock board you listed, its loaded to the gills!!!! dual INTEL gigabit lan connections, the new purity built in sound that so far has gotten good feedback based off the new realtek 1150 chipset, 10 sata 6 connections , a m-sata slot and every 16x slot is PCI-e 3.0....Not like a lot of boards where the 3rd or 4th 16x slot is PCI-e 2.0 .

That's the board i would get......Imm just saying and for the combo price and free shipping its better then spending $385 on a gulftown 6 core chip. I wonder what cooler he is running on his current rig?Well if his budget is a little low he can allways go for the hyper 212 evo for 32$

flip-mode wrote:OP has never stated what the computer is used for. Absent that, here's my opinion:

1) If you /want/ to upgrade just because you like shiny new things, go ahead.

2) If you use your computer to make money and you find yourself waiting on you computer, go ahead.

3) If neither of the above, then no, don't, it's not worth it. While a i5 4670 or i7 4770 will be faster, your i7 950 still offers plenty of performance, even more so if overclocked at all.

I agree with what you said and would like to throw in my penny's worth.

I originally had an i7-965x (no overclock) and about a year and a half ago I got a really great deal on an i7-990x.

I didn't notice ANY difference in subjective performance with regard to what I use my computer for. When gaming, I like strategy games and X3 but I am not into games like Call of Duty. I also need to say that the processor was the only thing I upgraded at that time.

I will probably stick with what I have until the CPU dies. The cost of buying a new CPU and motherboard is just not justified by any higher benchmark results and power saving.

I built a NAS based on an A8-5600K and as far as the work I do on the computer I don't notice any difference between it and my i7-990x. Of course I would notice a difference in gaming but the NAS is only there to double up in case I have something go wrong with my main machine so that I can keep working.

Nec_V20 wrote:I will probably stick with what I have until the CPU dies.

Unless you're running the CPU massively overclocked, the motherboard will almost certainly die first. At which point you'll have the option of scrounging a replacement motherboard on the second-hand market, or upgrading. As I'm sure you are well aware, CPUs generally become obsolete long before they die of old age (provided they are run within spec).

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

Nec_V20 wrote:I will probably stick with what I have until the CPU dies.

Unless you're running the CPU massively overclocked, the motherboard will almost certainly die first. At which point you'll have the option of scrounging a replacement motherboard on the second-hand market, or upgrading. As I'm sure you are well aware, CPUs generally become obsolete long before they die of old age (provided they are run within spec).

I'm well aware of that - I have had a couple of boards die on me over the years - and I was speaking metaphorically with regard to the CPU. For instance I may decide to change when DDR4 RAM becomes mainstream. That being said I don't anticipate a large problem in replacing the motherboard I have for some time.

The point I was trying to make was that I don't anticipate any CPU bottlenecks becoming a problem for me any time in the near future (next two years).

Nec_V20 wrote:I'm well aware of that - I have had a couple of boards die on me over the years - and I was speaking metaphorically with regard to the CPU. For instance I may decide to change when DDR4 RAM becomes mainstream. That being said I don't anticipate a large problem in replacing the motherboard I have for some time.

The point I was trying to make was that I don't anticipate any CPU bottlenecks becoming a problem for me any time in the near future (next two years).

I don't really see DDR3 vs. DDR4 RAM making a big difference either, unless CPU & mobo vendors decide to bump the number of memory channels coincident with the transition to DDR4.

Edit: I actually stuck with DDR2 for quite some time after DDR3 became mainstream. By then I had a fair bit invested in DDR2 DIMMs and motherboards across multiple systems; AMD's Phenom II CPUs could use either platform (AM2+/DDR2 or AM3/DDR3); and most applications aren't all that sensitive to raw DRAM bandwidth anyway. So I didn't see much point.

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

wow, so many responses to my simple question. ok, now some answers to the questions I was asked. I don't particularly do anything special anymore on my PC. I don't really game at all on it anymore unless you count playing Sim City once in a blue moon. simple reason why I haven't upgraded from a Radeon 6870 yet. I upgraded from a GTX 260 when I got the Radeon 6870 and still have the GTX 260 laying around somewhere. I don't do any rendering or encoding. I have a Blu-ray burner but have never even attempted to burn a Blu-ray. So basically I web browse on my PC and download foreign movies on utorrent. that's it ironically. I don't even watch those movies on my PC. I have a separate HTPC for that. I even just recently bought an Asus Memo Pad Smart 10. I guess as someone mentioned, if you have the money for it, why not. plus I can probably sell off my i7-950 system and recoup all my money spent on upgrading.

Ok, on a separate note, how loud is the stock cooler with i7-4770 and does it cool adequately? or can I simply use the CM Hyper 212 Plus I already have and if it doesn't fit, go with the newer CM Hyper 212 EVO? I prefer a quiet PC and don't want to bother with liquid cooling. Have a Corsair Carbide 400R case which is fairly quiet even with 5 120mm case fans (3 are PWM).

Nec_V20 wrote:I'm well aware of that - I have had a couple of boards die on me over the years - and I was speaking metaphorically with regard to the CPU. For instance I may decide to change when DDR4 RAM becomes mainstream. That being said I don't anticipate a large problem in replacing the motherboard I have for some time.

The point I was trying to make was that I don't anticipate any CPU bottlenecks becoming a problem for me any time in the near future (next two years).

I don't really see DDR3 vs. DDR4 RAM making a big difference either, unless CPU & mobo vendors decide to bump the number of memory channels coincident with the transition to DDR4.

Edit: I actually stuck with DDR2 for quite some time after DDR3 became mainstream. By then I had a fair bit invested in DDR2 DIMMs and motherboards across multiple systems; AMD's Phenom II CPUs could use either platform (AM2+/DDR2 or AM3/DDR3); and most applications aren't all that sensitive to raw DRAM bandwidth anyway. So I didn't see much point.

I got there a bit earlier than you Back in the day I stuck with my Harris 25MHZ 286 and completely gave the 386 generation (AMD and Intel) a miss. My 286 at the time ran what I needed faster than the 33MHz 386 and the next system I built for myself was based on a 486 DX50.

Nec_V20 wrote:I'm well aware of that - I have had a couple of boards die on me over the years - and I was speaking metaphorically with regard to the CPU. For instance I may decide to change when DDR4 RAM becomes mainstream. That being said I don't anticipate a large problem in replacing the motherboard I have for some time.

The point I was trying to make was that I don't anticipate any CPU bottlenecks becoming a problem for me any time in the near future (next two years).

I don't really see DDR3 vs. DDR4 RAM making a big difference either, unless CPU & mobo vendors decide to bump the number of memory channels coincident with the transition to DDR4.

Edit: I actually stuck with DDR2 for quite some time after DDR3 became mainstream. By then I had a fair bit invested in DDR2 DIMMs and motherboards across multiple systems; AMD's Phenom II CPUs could use either platform (AM2+/DDR2 or AM3/DDR3); and most applications aren't all that sensitive to raw DRAM bandwidth anyway. So I didn't see much point.

I got there a bit earlier than you Back in the day I stuck with my Harris 25MHZ 286 and completely gave the 386 generation (AMD and Intel) a miss. My 286 at the time ran what I needed faster than the 33MHz 386 and the next system I built for myself was based on a 486 DX50.

You're showing your age here man. I think your comment will be lost on 90% of our readers.

I don't think I had my first PC until the early 90s. I wasn't a PC "enthusiast" until maybe 98.

I have Starcraft to blame for that one. Also the Internet. I'm 26, in case you're wondering.

Well, if we want to go all the way back to first computers, mine was an IMSAI. 8-bit all the way, baby! I was actually a little late jumping on the IBM PC bandwagon as a result (didn't have my own PC compatible system until around the time of the PC/AT).

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

You're showing your age here man. I think your comment will be lost on 90% of our readers.

I don't think I had my first PC until the early 90s. I wasn't a PC "enthusiast" until maybe 98.

I have Starcraft to blame for that one. Also the Internet. I'm 26, in case you're wondering.

The more things change, the more they stay the same (déjà vu all over again ). With the system I now have I am having somewhat of a flashback to that time because with my 990x I feel no need to look to a replacement - just as it was during my 286 days.

A lot of the reporting one sees with regard to computers has also been recycled for decades - same words, just substitute the names.

just brew it! wrote:Well, if we want to go all the way back to first computers, mine was an IMSAI. 8-bit all the way, baby! I was actually a little late jumping on the IBM PC bandwagon as a result (didn't have my own PC compatible system until around the time of the PC/AT).

Well OK then my first experience with digital computing was counting my fingers in Kindergarten

Put a high end air cooler on that CPU and overclock it. My Spire Thermax Eclipse 2 allows me to run my i7-920 @ 3.8 Ghz 24/7.Processor speeds have basically plateaued in relation to the rest of the system.Save your cash for a real generation change from Intel/AMD.